working with cloth

i just made two of my very own tea dyed fabrics. very cool. one is a plain cotton for my dolls that go in the cloth book the other is some lace i'd cut from a curtain that was way too white to be attractive. I may use some of it in the book and save some for another mixed media brojest.

the lace i dyed in plain old tea which came out a mellow tan. the cotton i added a bit of chai tea which made it much pinker. I tried dyeing a ssoft stretch terry cloth but it ended up just looking like a dirt rag. I tried dyeing it two different times. I don't understand the difference. I'm going to try to rescue it with a coffee dye. I wonder if i can use instandt!

yesterday i finished deconstructing the canvas closet organizer and started sewing together the cloth book using the main portion of the canvas - sewing some batting onto one side, stitching where the page breaks will be.

I'm making it a concertina (continuous zigzag) but floppy, in the style of a baby book i saw once. I started working on an image from when i was recovering. my mom took it while i was taking pictures at muir woods. I like the symbolism, but it's too small not enough info so yesterday's photoshopping goes in the trash. I have others.

Ok be truthful, how much do you fuss with the little tiny threads and hair like fuzz on you silk???? This is definitely bringing out the OCD in me! ha ha ha

I'm getting gorgeous prints on the chine stuff i got from color textiles for my window. i'm excited!

oh, check out this art in a real life gallery:

here's a mixed media artisit who incorporates old photos of her family in her work
http://www.bquayartgallery.com/archive/rayner2006.html (click on the images for bigger versions).

I particularly like the cyanotypes and the looking glass.

and

http://www.bquayartgallery.com/archive/rayner.html
some of her older work.
the thing that looks like a candelabra is filled with wax encased photos of her family.

here's a different artist at the same gallery.
http://www.bquayartgallery.com/archive/austin.html
I see the note that the piece is sold and i really want to know for how much!!